TOKYO (AFP) – Technicians tested the radiation level of debris from inside a damaged reactor at Japan’s Fukushima plant yesterday after it was removed by a robot for the first time since the nuclear power station was hit by a tsunami in 2011.
Plant operator TEPCO said over the weekend that it had succeeded in bringing a small amount of debris outside the containment vessel surrounding a reactor – using specialised robots able to function around the high radiation levels inside.
Yesterday, Kuniaki Takahashi of TEPCO told reporters that they had measured the sample’s radiation level and it was low enough to continue to the next stage of the complex process.
Around 880 tonnes of extremely hazardous material remain, more than 13 years after a catastrophic tsunami caused by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents.
A trial removal of nuclear debris from the plant in northeastern Japan began in September, with the aim of studying a tiny sample for clues about conditions inside the reactors.
Removing the debris from the reactors is regarded as the most daunting challenge in the decades-long decommissioning project due to radiation levels within.
The company hopes to transport the sample to a research facility for further testing.
“We will move the debris into a box tomorrow for transportation… and then we will put it in a (special) container,” Takahashi said.
“The retrieval will be complete after it is moved into the container,” he said, adding that the timeframe for the next steps was unknown.